Back in December, a group of gamers attempted to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. They filed federal antitrust lawsuit of their own. They believe the merger would give Microsoft an unfair advantage and substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly that violates the Clayton Act. On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan turned down the request and rejected the gamer group’s emergency injunction.
The group of gamers said that Microsoft’s resulting power in the game industry would result in consumer harms. “The merger between Microsoft and Activision would be one of, if not the largest technology mergers in history, at a time when concentration among technology companies is already threatening the competitive balance of our economy and even our political systems,” Joseph Alioto, the lawyer representing the group, wrote in their application to the Supreme Court.
This rejection follows Microsoft’s win against the FTC. The FTC’s primary injunction was blocked due to the court finding that the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content.
Following its loss, the FTC filed an appeal against the verdict which was denied leaving the only obstacle for the merger to go through the CMA, who blocked the acquisition back in April.
After winning its trial against the FTC, Microsoft and Sony agreed to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
A temporary pause was granted stopping Microsoft’s appeal regarding the CMA’s decision to block the deal. The CMA also extended its deadline for its final verdict on the merger.
Today, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have agreed to extend their merger agreement from July 18 to October 18 giving both parties three months to complete the acquisition.